30-yrs on, MHADA yet to start construction of houses for Srinivas Mills workers

30-yrs on, MHADA yet to start construction of houses for Srinivas Mills workers

Tanvi DeshpandeUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 05:25 AM IST
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Mumbai : Decades after Mumbai’s iconic textile mills closed down, mill workers still await justice. Thirty years after it went defunct, MHADA is yet to start construction of houses for workers of the erstwhile Srinivas Mills while six other ongoing MHADA projects which are to benefit the kin of about 3000 mill workers also won’t be completed before 2016.

Textile mills have been an inseparable part of City’s cultural ethos. But after the mills closed down in the 1980s, the land of almost all the mills became disputed until an amendment in the Development Control Rules (DCR) in 1991, which permitted the sale of land provided one-thirds of the area was surrendered for public use. This meant that either the civic body or any public agency like MHADA could be given development rights for that plot.

However, the amendment in the DCR meant that one-third of the open space would be handed-over to the public and not one-third of the entire mill land. This robbed the mill workers of a half of their original share. Even later, a lot of mills opted to come out of liquidation, which meant that they were kept functioning at a minimum staff in order to hold claim to the plot.

Even in the case of Srinivas Mills, which closed down on 27th July, 1984, hundreds of workers were rendered homeless, many of whom have not been paid their dues yet. Now all they want is their rightful home.

In 2008, the Lodha group got ownership of the said land after paying off the owners’ liabilities of Rs.250 cr. What is interesting is, while the construction company started constructing the world’s tallest towers there in 2008, the construction of the mill workers’ housing project hasn’t even taken off.

“Builders get the necessary environmental clearances as well as other documents from the collector’s office easily, but when it comes to government agencies like MHADA, work happens at snail’s pace. What is tragic is, the delay causes a hike in the prices of these houses which are becoming increasingly unaffordable to the common man,” said Kalpesh Nadkarni of the Sarv Shramik Sanghatna, a city-based mill-workers’ organisation which has been fighting for mill workers’ rights for decades now. He also complained that a lot of mill workers have not received their dues yet.

MHADA was recently handed over the 4555 sq metres of land belonging to the Lodha group, following which it will require approval from the BMC as well as the state government’s environmental clearance. “The project is still in the planning stage now and will take four to six months for the construction to start,” said an engineer from MHADA on condition of anonymity.

The 24-storeyed structure will have 767 flats, but not all of them are for mill workers either. According to rules, 33 per cent of MHADA flats have to be converted into transit camps. Once construction begins next year, it will take two more years for mill workers to finally move into their own houses.

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ONGOING PROJECTS FOR MILL WORKERS

MILL FLATS FOR FLATS AS
MILL WORKERS TRANSIT CAMPS
CENTURY MILLS 1430 666
PRAKASH COTTON 562 281
PODDAR 188 93
JUBILEE 157 78
WESTERN INDIA 250 124
RUBY MILLS 47 23

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Tanvi Deshpande

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